Life-boat-launching device.



A. 0. PLUMB, RJW. SMART & A. P. SAUTTER. LIFE BOAT LAUNOHING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN.3, 1914.

1, 126,076, Patnted Jan. 26, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS Ca. PHoTo-LITI-la. wASHINGIiJN, D c

A. G. PLUMB, R. W. SMART & A. P. SAUTTER.

LIFE BOAT LAUNGHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1914.

Patented 31111.26, 1.915.

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EITED STATES PATENT OFFTQF.

AMASA C. PLUMB, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, RUPERT Vi. SMART, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, AND ALBERT P. SAU'ITER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIFE-BOAT-LAUNCHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 1e15,.

Application filed January 3, 1914. Serial No. 810,193.

To all whom it may concern Be 1t known that we, AMAsA C. PLUMB,

RUPERT W. SMART, and ALBERT P. SAUTTER,

citizens of the United States, residing at San Francisco, Seattle, and Philadelphia, respectively, in the counties of San Francisco, King, and Philadelphia, and States of California, Washington, and Pennsylvania, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Boat- Launching Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The present method of launching life boats has been found invariably to be in efiicient in rough seas for various reasons, principally that the boats are disabled by swinging against the vessel or are swamped through the launching operations. The primary aim, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a launching device of simple and durable construction which will operate efficiently in performing its determined functions.

A further object resides in the simple operation of the device attendant to the launching of the boats whereby the latter operation is greatly facilitated.

Other objects will appear as the description progresses, and those featuresof construction, arrangements and comblnations of parts on which protection is requested will be succinctly defined in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the present invention, reference is to be had to the following specification and the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vessel to which the preferred embodiment of the 1nvention is applied. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of a fragmentary portion of the vessel showing in full, dotted, and dot and dash lines three positions of the inventlon. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the launching device in its inoperative position. Fig. 4: is a similar view with the device in an operative and fully extended position. Flg. 5 1s a perspective view illustrating the operation of the invention during a list of the vessel. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the rope falls receiving end of the launching device as viewed in Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the invention as viewed in Fig. 4, showing the controlling mechan sm. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are sectional views on lines 88, 9-9 and 10l0 of Fig. 4 elucidating the detail construction, and Fig. 11 is an elevation of a slightly modified form wherein the device is non-extensible.

Referring by like characters of reference to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings, 1 designates the usual davits of the vessel, connected and braced, as by guys 2, and carrying the blocks 3 and rope falls A which connect with the life-boat 5 normally seating in checks or cradles 6, said falls passing over thumb cleats 7 for fastening to the cleats 8, all of which is of well known construction.

The launching devices each consists of ex tensible sections, the inner section 9 being mounted adjacent a respective davit for vertical swinging movement while the outer section 10, carried in a telescopic manner by the inner section, has its free end furcated, the furoations l1 flaring outwardly to serve as directing fingers to facilitate the reception of the falls l. Between the parallel inner ends of the directing fingers, a plurality of idlers 12 are mounted on a common shaft, each rope fall being accommodated for by an independently movable pulley. The inner section 9 is laterally braced by stays 18 and, being preferably of channel iron to receive the outer section, supports a pulley 1a over which a cable 15 takes from an eye on the inner portion of section 10 to the deck Where it is fixed for automatically extending the device during lowering or outwardly swinging movement thereof. The inner end of section 10 has an upstanding lug 16 for abutting depending lugs 17 of section 9 to prevent dislodgment of the outer section.

The controlling mechanism of the launching device comprises an element 18 pivoted at one end to the inner section 9 and having its opposite end bored, as at 18, and threaded to receive a threaded extending element 19 which is swivel in a swingingly mounted bearing plate 20 having oppositely projecting trunnions 21 engaging in the apertured arms of block 22. The end of element 19 projecting up from the bearing plate carries a means for imparting rotary movement to the aforesaid extending element in the form of a pawl and ratchet contrivance 23 which, if of the single pawl type, will be detachable for obvious reasons.

The bore 18 may be utilized as a lubricant reservoir which when the device is in an inoperative position is closed against ingress or egress of matter by a leather or other washer 24.

The operation of the device will be clear from the following in view of the foregoing. During the initial lowering movement of the boat, the launching devices or arms are adjusted to the position disclosed in full lines in Fig. 2 where the function of preventing the boat from swinging against and between the decks of the vessel during the rolling of the latter is performed. The boat is then lowered to the position shown in dot and dash lines-where the passengers from the deck enter, the rope falls having been received by the furcated ends of the devices, which latter are braced against lateral swinging, keeping the boat from movement forward or astern. The boat being ready for launching, the extending elements 19 are rotated and the devices are lowered and simultaneously extended to keep the boat from dashing against the vessel as well as to shorten the point of suspension to minimize the swing of the boat. A retainer pin 25 is inserted in apertures of the directing fingers subsequent to the reception of the rope falls, to prevent dislodgment of the latter.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 11, the launching device 26 is non-extensible, such construction being especially adapted for vessels with a plurality of decks.

Although we have specifically mentioned the invention as applied to life boats, it is, of course, understood that the same may be utilized in transferring freight or the like.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, 1s:

1. In a launching device of the character described, extensible means movable to and from the vessel for laimching a boat, and means automatically extending the first means during movement thereof from the vessel.

2. In a launching device of the character described, extensible means supported for bodily swinging movement to and from an operative position, and means for automatically extending the first means by movement thereof to an operative position.

3. In a launching device of the character described, vertically movable, extensible means for launching a boat, and means for automatically extending the first means by and during movement thereof.

4. In a launching device of the character described, boat suspension means, and means for supporting the boat from the vessel comprising extensible sections and spaced furcations on one section normally free of and adapted to receive the suspension means.

5. In a launching: device of the character described, boat suspension means, means for supporting the boat from the vessel comprising slidably extensible sections one of which is hinged to the vessel and the other having its free end furcated to receive the suspension means, and means to extend the sections.

6. In a launching device of the character described, boat suspension means, a vertically swinging arm carried by the boat and having its outer end furcated to receive the suspension means which is normally free of the furcated end, and means for swinging the arm.

7. In a launching device of the character described, an arm pivoted to the vessel for vertical movement having an extensible section, a flexible member connected at one end to the extensible section and having its opposite end fixed-to a relative stationary part for extending the section during movement of the arm, and means for moving the arm.

8. In a launching device of the character described, an arm pivoted to the vessel for "ertical movement having an extensible sec tion, a flexible member connected at one end to the extensible section and having its opposite end fixed to a relative stationary part for extending the section during movement of the arm, and means for moving the arm comprising extensible elements, one of which is pivoted to the arm and the other movably mounted on the vessel, and means for ex tending the elements.

In testimony whereof we al'iix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

AMASA C. PLUMB. RUPERT l/V. SMART. ALBERT P. SAUTTER.

Witnesses:

H. E. SPENCE, JAMES E. SPROLL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C." 

